Bernard Silber MD, FACP
Bernard Silber, MD, of Atherton and Palo Alto, died March 20, 2010, at age 98. He practiced Internal Medicine and Cardiology in Redwood City, and at Sequoia Hospital and Stanford University Medical Center. In addition to being a dedicated physician, Bernard was an expert calligrapher, a student of etymology and several languages–including Yiddish, his first language. He loved gardening, chopping wood, and maintaining a vast compost operation in his Atherton backyard. He was a superb swimmer through his 80s, and loved a pastrami sandwich on rye with dark beer, chocolate, and toasting “L’chaim” with a glass of vintage cabernet., Bernard Silber was born in 1911 in Baltimore, Maryland, the oldest of eight children of Isaac and Dora Rodbell Silber. Isaac and Dora opened the first Silber’s Bakery in 1904 on Lombard Street, and created a very successful series of bakeries and stores throughout the city of Baltimore. Silber’s Bakery was famous for its rye bread and many delicious desserts. All the Silber children would come home from school, grab a bite to eat from the pot on the kitchen stove, and go to work in the bakery. During the Great Depression, people lined up in front of the bakery, where the Silbers gave bread to families in need., Bernard was proud of his education at Baltimore City College, the University of Maryland, and the University of Chicago School of Medicine, 1936. Throughout his long life he maintained that Chicago was the best medical school in the country, having given him a strong foundation to practice excellent medicine., Dr. Silber completed five years of medical residency, beginning in Pathology and Radiology, and finally focusing on Internal Medicine. He met his wife of 64 years, Bernice Garrett Silber, a medical social worker, while completing his medical residency at L.A. County Hospital. She had inquired about the doctor with the beautiful handwriting, and so they met, and married in 1942. During WWII Dr. Silber was a captain in the US Army, as a Medical Officer stationed at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, in Hawaii, and at the 3000-bed Dibble Army Hospital in Menlo Park., Bernice and Bernard settled first in Palo Alto, and later built their home of 54 years on Edge Road in Atherton. Their beautiful redwood and glass house, among live oaks and redwoods, was surrounded by open space and horse pastures. They hosted many friends and family members at their home, often with a tour to the compost pile after dinner-as Bernard pulled out mold, bugs, and earthworms to demonstrate organic decomposition., After the war Dr. Silber, along with four medical colleagues from Dibble Hospital, opened the Sequoia Medical Group in Redwood City. He continued to practice Internal Medicine and Cardiology until his retirement 24 years ago. When asked what kind of physician he was, he always answered, “an RD”-a real doctor. During his practice he frequently made medical house calls, and was beloved by his many patients on the S. F. Peninsula., As a physician he was an excellent diagnostician, and continued to keep abreast of the latest developments in medicine throughout his five decade career. Early on he became interested in the relationship of diet, exercise, and smoking to heart disease, and preached a healthy lifestyle to all his patients. Indeed, it was the desire to live a healthy lifestyle that led Bernard and Bernice to begin swimming competitively at age 60, when they joined the Rinconada Masters Swim Team in Palo Alto. They swam with the group for 30 years, working out three times a week, and winning many medals at swim meets. Bernard was a master of the butterfly and the breast stroke., Survivors include daughters Jenny Silber Butah, of Watsonville, Katy Silber, of Berkeley and son Marc Silber, of Menlo Park; brothers Sidney Silber, Dr. Earle Silber, and sister Evelyn Krohn, of Lutherville, Chevy Chase, and Baltimore, Maryland, respectively; eleven grandchildren; fifteen nieces and nephews, and many Rodbell and Silber cousins in Maryland and California. Predeceased by his wife, Bernice Garrett Silber; brothers Meyer Silber and Sam L. Silber; and sisters Libbye Sneider and Sen. Rosalie S. Abrams., A memorial celebration of Bernard’s life will held on May 2nd in Atherton. For further information, contact Katy Silber, or Jenny, Dr. Bernard Silber was an uncommonly generous man with his family and friends, and with the many organizations he supported. Contributions in his memory may be made to: the Jewish Community Federation of S. F. & the Peninsula; the Peninsula School, Menlo Park; the Sierra Club; Peninsula Open Space Trust; or the ACLU.
By legacy.com
